Wild boar are allowed to live in just two regions of the Netherlands, according to government rules.

However, the animals often do not obey those rules.

THE wildlife desperately foraging for food in Ireland’s icy New Year landscape were unknown numbers of Sus scrofa, the wild boar of Europe. Recent sightings and shootings have confirmed a quite widespread presence of the animal in Leinster and elsewhere, including whole families with piglets (or shoats). They began as escapes from farms, or perhaps were let out by animal-rights saboteurs as has happened notoriously in Britain, where some feral colonies are now well established in remoter woodland: here.

Apparently there is one set of rights for Blackwater mercenaries and another for the rest of us. Normally when a group of people alleged to have gunned down 17 civilians in a lawless shooting spree are questioned, investigators will tell them something along the lines of: “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.” But that is not what the Blackwater operatives involved in the September 16 Nisour Square shooting in Iraq were told. Most of the Blackwater shooters were questioned by State Department Diplomatic Security investigators with the understanding that their statements and information gleaned from them could not be used to bring criminal charges against them, nor could they be introduced as evidence. In other words, “Anything you say can’t and won’t be used against you in a court of law.”

The Iraqi government on Friday criticized the dismissal of charges against five Blackwater security guards, saying they murdered 17 innocent civilians: here.

The Iraqi government has declared that it will take legal action against the mercenary company Blackwater after a US judge rejected charges against gunmen accused of the massacre of 17 people in Baghdad: here.